Year Zero
by zombieLass
Summary: The gene for blue eyes has been wiped out and now everybody's after one man.


Mad World

Imagine a world where the race of a certain trait was completely wiped out. Without a reason anyone could comprehend. Not another World War; no epidemic, and no apocalypse, just a missing gene. You wouldn't think just one thing could damage so many people. Exactly why is this missing gene so important? Well, people always said that blues had a sort of spark in them.

Exasperation along with exhaustion seemed to hang in the air, creating an aurora of pure aggravation around the Shinra Mansion. Patience was being tested thoroughly for everyone working in the mansion especially for a certain pair of scientists whose jobs it was to lead the search for the special gene for blue eyes.

"Lucrecia, bring me the newest test substance," a thin man ordered, turning away from his newest blond test subject.

"Yes sir," she replied quickly, and hurried out of the room.

Hojo turned back to his newest experiment and grinned. This would be the day where he, the genius professor Hojo would _perfect_ the new gene for blue eyes. The subject squirmed beneath the professor's greedy stare. White eyes widened in shock while trying to get away from the professor.

"Struggling will get you nowhere, just accept it. It will be over soon anyway," he sneered.

A sigh passed through his "experiment's" lips as they settled down in defeat. And as they realized the truth in Hojo's words, the snow colored eyes closed readying themselves for the worst. Hojo petted the wild blond hair that adorned the person on the table, then put his hand on his own chin and began to think.

Why is it that he could perfect artificial life but he could not perfect a simple gene? It made no sense really, but those thoughts would soon be discarded because today was the day that he would in fact recreate that gene.

Shera scuttled back into the room with a small vile clasped in white gloved hands. She handed Hojo the vial with shaky hands as she looked over to the man on the table. His clothes were tattered and torn from struggling against his restraints.

Yes, indeed he was not an actual human being but he was human enough to feel fear and pain as Hojo demonstrated many times before. She may be willing to do a lot of things in the name of science but sometimes it seemed Hojo went too far.

"You're just not thinking things all the way through," he'd say. She'd sigh and agree reluctantly, and then she would try to look past the experiment to what the results could do for them.

The thin professor was scrutinizing the plasma like substance, expecting it to be a fake or tampered with. He even flicked the bottle sometimes, watching the substance swim around in the vial.

The professor's eyes flickered back and forth between the subject and the vial, before they settled on the subject, thinning into near slits as he smiled and strode over to the blond who lay on the table, tense and filled with anxiety for the upcoming events.

Hojo had Lucrecia pour the glowing test substance into a syringe, and then had her hold the blonde's eyelids open, revealing bleach white irises and gray dilated pupils. The professor snickered as he lowered the needle toward the center of the ash colored pupil.

He administered an equal amount of the substance to each eye. Pain shot through the blonde's body like liquid electricity, making him jolt and writhe against his restraints. His eyes were shut tightly contrary to the pain, which seemed to last for hours but then subsided into a dull ache.

"Get a blindfold quickly," Hojo snapped. "You know how sensitive his eyes will be."

"Yes, sir." With that she grabbed a nearby faded blue cloth that had yet to be used and quickly wrapped it around the man's eyes to shield them from the invading florescent lights. He flinched away from the cool fabric, in no way reassured by it.

"Don't worry, the worst is over now," Lucrecia whispered, trying to somewhat soothe the man. To her disappointment he had not been fazed by her words. Feeling guilty she retreated into a different lab room, the room where the mako was contained and handled.

When she entered the dimly lit lab a pair of emerald eyes shot a look at her that if first seen would've been interpreted as fear but a second glance would make the deeply furrowed eyebrows that changed the expression to a complete look of irritation. In a split second the expression softened in recognition, and the face that the eyes belonged to turned away from her.

Lucrecia moved into the room and took her place leaning against a nearby table that had yet to be used. Her guilt seemed to be eating away at her very core every time she timed blink the image of man on the table.

"Feeling guilty again?" Lucrecia didn't answer, but instead let her gaze drop from the man's back to the floor. Taking the silence as a 'yes' he continued "Well you shouldn't, because you never asked for any of this."

Lucrecia did not want to get on to that subject as they always did."You keep it so dark in here. Why?"

"The lights hurt my eyes," he answered coldly, stressing the word 'eyes'.

"Oh I see, could I ask you a personal question?" she asked, hoping to distract the man from her own problems.

"You may."

"Why do you hate him?" It was just something she wondered, but Lucrecia didn't actually mean to ask, it just came out.

"For the same reasons you do along with some of my own," he answered non-chalantly, and then turned to face her for the first time since they started their conversation. His green eyes seemed to be illuminated by the dim lighting, blond hair draped over his shoulders, while the rest was strung up into a ponytail. His mouth was drawn into a thin line as it always was whenever he spoke of Hojo.

"W-what do you mean? I-I don't," she stumbled over her words. She didn't hate Hojo. She may have disliked his methods when it came to experimentation, but she never even fathomed why she would hate the man or anyone for that matter.

"Don't lie to yourself, you've hated him for some time now, but at the end of the day it's yourself who you really hate, because you could've prevented what happened to that poor boy." Lucrecia glared holes into the floor refusing to look at the mako expert, afraid she would see the truth in his words. There was no way she could've hated anyone, and she balled her fists in frustration.

"That's not true," she whispered, daring to look up into those piercing green eyes. "I couldn't hate him."

"You now I wasn't always like this." He was changing the subject completely; Lucrecia had no idea what he was rambling on about now. Did he mean physically or his attitude? From the first time they had met he had always had blond hair, green eyes, and a short temper. "Green eyes are quite uncommon for people with blond hair. Would you believe me that I used to look just like him?" He smiled as he said this; a sad smile with a distant look to match.

"R-really?" She couldn't see Vexen as a second Hojo, because they were so different with few similarities. Vexen appeared as if hadn't heard her, lost in his own thoughts.

"Lucrecia!" The door to the small cluttered lab swung open swiftly. "Get out here and help me move the experiment." Hojo stood in the doorway looking very annoyed at Lucrecia's absence. Vexen had his eye shielded against the intruding light, quietly cursing Hojo's existence.

"Y-Yes sir." She slipped through the door around Hojo, who stood a moment more, studying Vexen.

"Good to see as always, Vexen," He spoke his name with undisguised disdain. "You really should come out sometime."

"You know I can't," Vexen hissed through clenched teeth, unable to face Hojo due to the blinding light that streamed in behind him. Making him seem heavenly, which was something that man was far from.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot." He chuckled before continuing, "But you know," he said thoughtfully, "I don't regret it." With that he quickly turned on his heel and left the small lab with a quick slam of the door. Through that, door glass could be heard smashing against it, and that made Hojo burst into a fit of laughter.

Back in the larger lab the subject seemed to be lying perfectly still, too still. Brown eyes quickly darted to the blonde's chest watching rise and fall in relief. As she did this she found herself replaying the conversation she had with Vexen in her head.

'_Don't lie to yourself you've hated him for some time now…' _It's true she hated the way he treated his _'experiments'_ like cheap toys that could be replaced. He was just doing what he had to for the sake of everyone; just doing is job, right?

"Lucrecia, grab his torso and be quick about it," he snapped as he made his way around the table loosening the restraints. She did what she was told and wrapped her arms firmly around his torso, and lifted her half of his body off the table as Hojo grabbed his legs.

Together they hauled to the elevator located on the far side of the room. On their way down, Hojo could sense the agitation radiating off of Lucrecia; she was obviously distressed. Hojo of course did not care about this but if it interfered with his, no, their research then he would confront her, but for now she should settle her own problems.

The elevator gave a deep 'ding' signaling they had reached the basement floor, where all experiments were kept. They hauled the blonde past the guard of the basement, Lexaeus, a very tall man who was literally, built for his job.

The basement floor was just one long corridor from the elevator. There were rooms on either side of the hallway. They placed him in the room farthest away from the elevator on the left side. In that room there were two beds, one which was occupied by a brunette male who barely even regarded the scientists as they dragged the limp body toward the other bed.

"Lucrecia make sure he's taken care of," Hojo ordered and briskly left the room, planning to make his way back to the lab, and the female brunette didn't even have time to answer him. She sat down next to the blonde on the bed and ran her fingers through his hair softly a few times.

"What's his name?" It was the male brunette who spoke, gesturing toward the unconscious blonde.

"I haven't thought about that yet," she replied thoughtfully as she looked over his features.

"Make it something…hopeful," he suggested switching his gaze from her to the man.

"Hopeful? What made you say that?"

"I think it's something we're all missing," he stated simply.

"All of us?" She never thought they included her as a friend or even acknowlegded her existance.

"Yes, even you. We all want the same thing really."

"And what might that be?" What could they possibly have in common with one another, what trait could all of them posses?

"We all want to escape Hojo and be free of this place." Lucrecia looked upon him in mild shock, because none of them had really voiced their opinion about staying here or Hojo. Again, someone was implying she did not tolerate Hojo.

"Not me," she said quietly, staring into the floor.

"Not you? I guess what I've seen is a lie then," he accused in the same monotone voice.

Did her actions really make it obvious that she may detest Hojo? She was sure she didn't, and never gave any indication that she did. Was it possible that she had been fooling herself of what was apparently so blatantly obvious? Her thoughts took her back to the conversation with Vexen, then to the blonde who currently occupied the bed. All that he went through, and for what, for Hojo to find a gene? It didn't seem fair, why did the innocent suffer for this?

Why hadn't she thought of this before? She must have subconciously blocked it away, not wanting to realize the truth. She always used the same excuse 'for the sake of science'. Now the thought nearly made her sick.

Why was it that freedom seemed so close yet just out of their reach? If only they could reach a little farther, but would it even matter? Would they be able to hang onto it, or would it just dissolve into their hands?

"I know what his name is," she announced at last.

"What?"

"Cloud."


End file.
